New `Gunsmoke` Sequel, First Presley Documentary Scheduled

September 26, 1987|By BILL KELLEY

Gunsmoke: Re-turn to Dodge (8 p.m., WTVJ-Ch. 4, WTVX-Ch. 34), airing tonight, is a 12-years-later reprise of the CBS western series. James Arness and Amanda Blake are back, as Matt Dillon and Kitty. But the two biggest stars to emerge from the show -- Dennis Weaver and Burt Reynolds -- are conspicuous by their absence. The movie is a sequel to an old episode of the series, with Steve Forrest as a criminal who is obsessed with killing Matt.

Miami/Fort Lauderdale`s PBS station, WPBT-Ch. 2, will carry the first Elvis Presley documentary, 1970`s Elvis: That`s the Way It Is, tonight at 9. The movie airs without commercial interruptions.

The Disney Sunday Movie opens its new season with a truncated (by 30 minutes) version of Disney`s 1951 animated feature, Alice in Wonderland. The film hasn`t been broadcast on network television since 1964. Ed Wynn, Kathryn Beaumont (as Alice) and Sterling Holloway are among the actors who dub the characters` voices. It airs at 7 p.m. on ABC (WPLG-Ch. 10, WPEC-Ch. 12), followed by this season`s first episode of Spenser: For Hire on its new night, at 8. Dolly Parton`s variety show, Dolly, premieres at 9, and Dennis Weaver plays a trauma surgeon in a new series, Buck James, at 10.